The Decision on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination terial Council tasked the Permanent Council, as well as taken by the Maastricht Ministerial Council (Decision the ODIHR, the High Commissioner on National Mi- No. 4) in 2003 significantly increased the ODIHR’s man- norities, and the Representative on Freedom of the date in this area, requiring the Office to undertake a Media, in close co-operation with the Chairman-in-Of- number of activities to support OSCE participating fice, with ensuring effective follow-up to the relevant States in their efforts to promote tolerance and non- provisions of the Decision. discrimination. Specifically, the Maastricht Ministerial The role of the ODIHR in combating racism and intol- Council decided that the ODIHR should: erance was further strengthened under the OSCE Per
Serve as a collection point for information and manent Council Decisions on Combating Anti-Semitism statistics gathered by participating States on (Decision No. 607), adopted in April 2004, and on Tol- hate crimes, including violent manifestations erance and the Fight against Racism, Xenophobia and of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and other Discrimination (Decision No. 621), adopted in July 2004, forms of intolerance; which further tasked the ODIHR to:
Report regularly on the information received from
participating States, including in the format of the Follow closely, in full co-operation with other OSCE institutions, as well as the CERD, ECRI, and Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM); the EUMC and other relevant international institu-
Receive information from OSCE states on their tions and NGOs, incidents motivated by racism, existing legislation regarding crimes fuelled by xenophobia, anti-Semitism and discrimination or intolerance and discrimination; intolerance, including against Muslims, in the OSCE area, making use of all reliable information
Promote best practices and disseminate lessons available; learned in the fight against intolerance and
discrimination; Report its findings to the Permanent Council and to the HDIM and to make these findings public;
Provide assistance, where requested by
participating States, in drafting and reviewing Systematically collect and disseminate information legislation regarding crimes fuelled by throughout the OSCE area on best practices for intolerance and discrimination. preventing and responding to anti-Semitism and, if requested, offer advice to participating States in The Maastricht Ministerial Council Decision further re- their efforts to promote tolerance and non- quired that, in its information-gathering activities, the discrimination; ODIHR should seek full co-operation particularly with
the European Commission against Racism and Intoler- Support the ability of civil society and the development of partnerships to combat manifestations of ance (ECRI), the European Monitoring Centre on hate-motivated intolerance in the OSCE region. Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD), as well as with relevant NGOs. The Ministerial Council also called upon the ODIHR to reinforce its activities with respect to discrimination against migrant workers, asylum seekers, and refugees, as well as with respect to the integration of migrant workers into the societies in which they are legally residing. The Minis- 64